Choking hazard?

KaylaO1024

So my son is starting to want to feed himself, and I'm never sure what is safe to give him.  He's had mashed potatos and noodles (plus puffs of course), some cherrios and bread, but anything else I'm nervous.  He has 6 teeth now, (2 more are on their way in but not cut yet).  What do you give your baby, and has any of your children choked on food?  What do you do if they have choked?

MyPunkinPie

Mine eats just about everything now. Yes, he's choked a couple of times on slippery foods like cantaloupe and bananas. A quick finger-swipe through his mouth and on one occasion a hard pat on the back dislodged the piece. It's very scary. For that reason, I've yet to put food on his tray and walk away to do something else. I sit with him and feed him one or two pieces of whatever I'm giving. I also have a sippy cup with water on hand to help "wash" down food that he seems to be working particularly hard to swallow. Take an infant CPR class if you're really freaked out or find a video on YouTube explaining what to do if a baby chokes.

MJN9510

DD has 5 teeth and i feed her mashed potatoes, french fries, puffs, bread, meatloaf...almost anything at this point.  I am not worried about her choking.  I just make sure things are in bite sized pieces for her and only give a couple of them on her high chair tray at a time.  if I put a bunch on the tray, she would shove all of it in her mouth and i would probably worry about choking then.  She does great!

KaylaO1024

MyPunkinPie:

Mine eats just about everything now. Yes, he's choked a couple of times on slippery foods like cantaloupe and bananas. A quick finger-swipe through his mouth and on one occasion a hard pat on the back dislodged the piece. It's very scary. For that reason, I've yet to put food on his tray and walk away to do something else. I sit with him and feed him one or two pieces of whatever I'm giving. I also have a sippy cup with water on hand to help "wash" down food that he seems to be working particularly hard to swallow. Take an infant CPR class if you're really freaked out or find a video on YouTube explaining what to do if a baby chokes.

Thank you!!!  How many teeth did your baby have when you started giving him most regular food?

KaylaO1024

neece28:

DD has 5 teeth and i feed her mashed potatoes, french fries, puffs, bread, meatloaf...almost anything at this point.  I am not worried about her choking.  I just make sure things are in bite sized pieces for her and only give a couple of them on her high chair tray at a time.  if I put a bunch on the tray, she would shove all of it in her mouth and i would probably worry about choking then.  She does great!

Thank you!  How would you describe "bite size"?  I read somewhere not bigger than a pea?  Could my son probably eat a whole pea?  I'm so nervous about this that lastnight, I cut Kraft Mac & Cheese noodles into like 4-5 pieces lol

MyPunkinPie

KaylaO1024:

MyPunkinPie:

Mine eats just about everything now. Yes, he's choked a couple of times on slippery foods like cantaloupe and bananas. A quick finger-swipe through his mouth and on one occasion a hard pat on the back dislodged the piece. It's very scary. For that reason, I've yet to put food on his tray and walk away to do something else. I sit with him and feed him one or two pieces of whatever I'm giving. I also have a sippy cup with water on hand to help "wash" down food that he seems to be working particularly hard to swallow. Take an infant CPR class if you're really freaked out or find a video on YouTube explaining what to do if a baby chokes.

Thank you!!!  How many teeth did your baby have when you started giving him most regular food?

Four. The top two and bottom two front teeth. He almost has 6 teeth now. I also wanted to add since the choking incidents, I've been cutting his stuff into REALLY small pieces - like I cut blueberries into 4 pieces, not just in half - and mostly spoon feed him. He doesn't seem passionate about feeding himself but when he does, nothing is ever bigger than the size of a Cheerio.

hetachu

Drew only has two teeth completely in and eats almost everything. He can eat whole blueberries and loves whole pieces of rotini...he gums it into pieces. I cut up raviolis and most protein (chicken, beef) but he gums large pieces of melon and I cut one waffle/bread/pancake into sticks instead of tiny pieces. We've just started giving him a fork and but he mostly plays with it. 

Jessys_Girl

hetachu:

Drew only has two teeth completely in and eats almost everything. He can eat whole blueberries and loves whole pieces of rotini...he gums it into pieces. I cut up raviolis and most protein (chicken, beef) but he gums large pieces of melon and I cut one waffle/bread/pancake into sticks instead of tiny pieces. We've just started giving him a fork and but he mostly plays with it. 

My kid took FOREVER to get teeth and we started feeding her just about everything as soon as she had 1-2 teeth.  Honestly, their gums are hard enough that they can "chew" most foods as long as they are bitesized and not TOO hard (like I wouldn't give her jawbreakers candies LOL).

I wouldn't cut up mac and cheese into 4-5 pieces...maybe 2...but even at that, noodles are soft.

I understand worrying about choking, but give it a go and you'll see it's not as scary as it seems.

MJN9510

KaylaO1024:

neece28:

DD has 5 teeth and i feed her mashed potatoes, french fries, puffs, bread, meatloaf...almost anything at this point.  I am not worried about her choking.  I just make sure things are in bite sized pieces for her and only give a couple of them on her high chair tray at a time.  if I put a bunch on the tray, she would shove all of it in her mouth and i would probably worry about choking then.  She does great!

Thank you!  How would you describe "bite size"?  I read somewhere not bigger than a pea?  Could my son probably eat a whole pea?  I'm so nervous about this that lastnight, I cut Kraft Mac & Cheese noodles into like 4-5 pieces lol

I would give my DD a kraft mac & cheese noodle whole, or cut it in 1/2 would be the smallest I would go.  When I cut up buttered toast for her, the pieces are probably as big as an elbow noodle.

Asljoc

Abby has 6 teeth and I let her feed herself most of her food.  Chicken, blueberries, puffs, cheerios and pasta mostly.  With mac and cheese I only cut the noodle in half and she does fine with it.  She hasn't choked on anything yet.  She has a hard time getting a handle on bananas so I mostly spoon feed her those.

KaylaO1024

Thanks everyone for their input!  I'm going to take a leap of faith and start trying some more stuff and bigger pieces!  I appreciate all the responses!!!

krispylove

We're doing Baby Led Weaning, so we started DD on solids at 6 months.  She got her first (and only) 2 bottom teeth at 7 months.  She has never choked, but she has gagged.  Lately, she does not even gag because she is used to solids now.  We give large chunks of food, and she gnaws off pieces to eat.  For example, I cut a medium banana in half lengthwise, then in half again and give those large pieces to her whole.  When you start solids early, they learn how big of a bite they can take, and they learn how to properly chew and swallow.  I give soft foods that can be easily smushed by her gums such as steamed yams, carrots, pasta (rotini or cut spaghetti), avocado, omelettes, toast strips, etc.  You can look up the baby led weaning website for more ideas and pictures of babies eating solids.